This recipe is actually based on the famous ‘Vanillekipfel’, crescent shaped vanilla cookies. Tasty and oh so pretty. At least, they can be pretty. I used to shape them into crescents, and most of them were… pretty. Didn’t always succeed though. They were never uniform. Too big, too small, too thick, too thin. And as they are very delicate when they come right out of the oven, many broke in half when I tried to sugar coat them (which has to be done straight from the oven).

Easy basic recipe

The basic recipe is actually quite easy recipe. First, kneed all ingredients quickly into a firm dough. I usually shape them into 2 logs, with a diameter of about 5 cm. Then I wrap them in cling film and refrigerate for at least an hour. Then I cut then into rounds, about 0,5 cm thick.

Crescent cookies

Instead of easily cutting rounds from a log, you’re supposed to knead the dough, roll it into long, thin ‘snakes’ (as I called them) and then cut equal parts and shape those into nice little crescents. As I am quite sloppy at the job, I decided one year to just leave it and bake the rounds. Call me lazy, but the cookie is still as delicious! And I’ve never made a crescent cookie since.

Vanilla Cookies

So, I renamed the famous ‘Vanillekipfel’ and now call them Vanilla Cookies. Well, that’s what they now are, anyway. No more crescent cookies.

Ingredients

260 g all purpose flour

1 egg yolk

pinch of salt

seeds of one vanilla pod

80 g confectioner’s sugar

100 g almond meal

200 g cold butter, cubed

4-5 tbsp white sugar

vanilla sugar/powdered vanilla (optional)

Instructions

Sift the flour in a large bowl and make a well in the middle.

Add egg yolk, salt, scraped vanilla seeds, confectioner’s sugar (sifted), almond meal and the butter into the well.

Using a knife or pastry cutter, cut ingredients into the flour.

Then kneed quickly until the dough comes together. Shape into 2 logs, 5 cm diameter. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Then cut the log into rounds of about 0,5 cm and put on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.

Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Carefully take each cookie (I use two forks) and place in a bowl with white sugar (and optional added powdered vanilla). Turn the cookie several times to cover in sugar.

Let cool completely before storing in an air tight container.

They keep well for several weeks, but I doubt they will last that long.

Enjoy!